


The Last Word

by thatonewriterchick



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Coping, F/M, Festival of the Lost, Grief/Mourning, Post-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 18:30:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16413608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatonewriterchick/pseuds/thatonewriterchick
Summary: Cayde's gone and Ikora is trying to keep it together.





	The Last Word

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why, but I really struggled with the title here. I still don't know how to feel about it, but... what can you do?

In the end, Cayde-6 had two funerals.

There was the traditional one, with a procession and a choir that took place in the large spiritual center near the Tower. It was full of citizens and Guardians, worthy of a high ranking officer of the Vanguard and far too stuffy. Had Cayde been there, Ikora knew he would have slipped away, appearing hours later, flippantly deflecting his whereabouts in a way that had been part of his charm.

Ikora and Zavala had stood in their places and remained sullen, professional.

That’s all she had been doing as of late, clutching to professionalism. It’s what kept her from trying to physically shake sense into Zavala, from leaving a path of destruction in the wake of her fury, her despair.

The second funeral was a bit more tolerable.

It had been a small gathering of the people who knew Cayde best. They stood in his quarters, having strong drinks and telling stories about their fallen friend. His best moments, his most outrageous feats and stories. The crazy bribes he used to pawn off his responsibilities on anyone he could. Surrounded by his maps, guns and knives, it had almost been like he had simply stepped away for a while.

Ikora knew better, even as she sipped at her third drink and relished in the way her feelings had dulled some in the first time in weeks.

She had felt the instant his Light had gone out.

It had felt like a physical blow that had brought tears to her eyes even as she stood in the bazaar. The voices around her had faded and a coldness had seeped into her, despite the sun’s rays at her back. She had turned to face the City despite the sun’s glare hurting her eyes, afraid of what it meant, even though she’d known.

When Thane had arrived with his body, Ikora had not been surprised.  _ But seeing the state of him… _ She sucked in a shuddering breath as she returned to the moment, to Amanda’s drawl as she described the time she had disguised Cayde’s infiltration mission of the Dreadnaught as a test flight.

Ikora met Zavala’s knowing gaze from across the room and took her leave. He knew better than to follow her; regardless of his reasoning, she was still angry with him. Some part of her knew it wasn’t fair, that as always he had taken up the mantle as the responsible one, regardless of what he wanted. That ability was why he was the Commander. Yet still, she had found it impossible to speak with him outside of a professional capacity, and even then she wanted to do him physical harm.

In the safety of her own quarters, she navigated around the shadows of her furniture with practiced ease, settling on her sofa and drinking down the last of her glass’ contents. It burned deliciously, the second drink just then slamming into her system. It numbed her lips, warmed her face and stole away the last of her questions and aches.

For the first time in a long time, she fell asleep without giving herself over to tears.

 

She met with the executor in the morning, head aching, but refusing to be healed. There was a clarity in the pain that she relished. The meeting had been brief, as Cayde’s belongings had been split between herself and Zavala; the Commander had wisely set his appointment an hour earlier than hers and was gone by the time she arrived.

She had was given access to Cayde’s vault pages to sort through and do what she wished with its contents. And an envelope. It was light and felt as though there was a single slip of paper inside, but Ikora still waited.

When she returned to her room that evening, she had flipped it over and ran a finger along the space where the lip of the envelope had been sealed against itself. Ikora began to open it and then hesitated, setting it instead on the nearest bookshelf.

In spite of everything she had felt and seen, opening that envelope would be the final nail in Cayde’s coffin. With time, the pain would dull to a bearable throb, his name would come up less. He would be left behind while the living pressed forward. It seemed so…unfitting, considering how vibrant he had been.

Tomorrow, she promised herself. After all, it wasn’t a logical way of thinking; he was gone whether the envelope was closed or open.

And yet it sat for weeks, then months.

It sat until the first day of the Festival of the Lost, when she woke up and went about her morning routine until she spotted it, lying right where she had left it. Not that she had forgotten.

Ikora fetched it before sitting at her breakfast nook, nursing a cup of coffee and booting up her work tablets to check morning reports that had been submitted throughout the night. While the system began to organize the reports by priority, she set down her mug and lifted the envelope once more.

She took a deep breath and then opened it, pulling the slip of paper free, attention latching on to the familiar, neat freehand that she knew to be Cayde’s.

_ Kora, _

_ I know you gave it back when you ended it. But it’s still yours. _

_ C _

Her throat was tight at the sight of the nickname he’d used to call her when they were off duty. But the thing he reference confused her and she opened the envelope to ensure she hadn’t missed anything. 

Her heart lurched, breath hitching at the sight of it.

Plucking it from the envelope, she watched the light reflect from its waxy finish. The queen of hearts’ aloof stare met her teary gaze and Ikora dropped it to the single word scrawled at an angle at the bottom of the card.

_ Always. _

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I’m aware that in the Gamestop preorder of Destiny 2 Mara Sov appears on the queen of hearts and Cayde is on the king of hearts. But I don’t really think that’s what they intended and even if they did, I don’t really feel that pairing, to be honest. ^^’ I’m also aware that Cayde’s will on Ishtar Commander says that his will says whoever kills him gets everything he owns. However, one I like this better and two my muse didn’t care when this story was plopped into my lap. So…there. :p


End file.
